Lithuanian Radio and Television

BUČELYTĖ Eglė, editor for the TV News programs

When tanks and armored vehicles began to drive through Vingis Park in our direction, V. Kikilaitė (the producer) and I left the office and went down to Studio II. Downstairs we could already hear tank shots by the TV tower. I stayed in the studio with the operators. The door was locked from the outside, and we stood there until the paratroopers broke through the door with an axe. The entire time we were in the studio there were explosions, and the walls were shaking. That went on for about half an hour, or maybe an hour. Through the window of the studio, I first saw soldiers break into the producer's panel, and then about 10 minutes later they broke down our door. Running in, they ordered us not to move and not to talk. As they pushed us into the hall, they kept repeating the same words: „Ne razgovarivaj, a to budem streliatj!" („Don't talk, or we'll shoot!") They let us take our coats from the fourth-floor office. Everyone who escorted us felt obliged to say that one of our policemen had killed a soldier, and that's why they took us. The whole building was filled with smoke, the floor was covered with pieces of broken glass, and flower pots were overturned.

When I went outside, I saw a real war. The worst thing was the tracer bullets that were flying over our heads.